Activists and nonprofit executives often cast about for better ways to get things done and solve recurring problems like funding those ambitious change efforts. This page outlines a system for finding or designing new solutions to old problems in fundraising, social marketing, advocacy, public education, and program design.
Six Principles:
Regardless of the challenge, all of most of these principles should be relevant and useful.
1.Think Scientifically - Use numbers, rates, proportions, and percentages to inform decisions and guide our evaluations, of what to do and
what works once we get things going.
2. Look for Leverage - Look for ways to intervene that will produce the most change for a given level of effort (or spending).
3. Be Systematic - Use some basic organizational principles, and tools like cost-benefit analysis, to track your thinking, research, and progress.
4. Adopt a Marketing Mindset - You are in the business of selling something, whether you know it or not. Learn to think about how and where to sell your ideas, programs, or projects to those who need them but may not be paying attention.
5. Hunt for Opportunities - You and your supporters will soon get tired of hearing about problems that need fixing. Look for ways to partner with other groups, provide new benefits that weren't part of the plan, or acquire new resources.
6. Think Design - All social innovations need to be “sold” to people, so all ideas need to be designed to fit the audience and the social environment.
Seven Steps:
The process involves seven steps, steps to lead you from problem identification to solution implementation. The steps don’t need to be followed in order in each case. If an existing program needs improvement, you may be able to start with the third step. If you have ideas, you can do step two and jump to step six. The steps below obviously need much more explanation to be useful. My blogs and my proposed book offer details. Here are the seven steps:
1. Explore your challenge - Ask questions about what you want to accomplish and why.
2. Analyze the situation and the social environment - Use your own experience, plus existing data.
3. Define what counts as a good idea - A "good idea" is only good if it fits the circumstances. Spell out the relevant criteria or standards.
4. Look for ideas to steal - Why invent something when you can simply borrow somebody else's idea? No matter what you want to accomplish, someone has probably done something similar, and described it on the Web.
5. Brainstorm - Generate new ideas using lateral thinking tricks. Learn a couple of techniques for generating new ideas, one for individual use and one for group brainstorming sessions.
6. Evaluate your ideas - Be systematic in testing your ideas and picking the best one.
7. Implement the winning idea and monitor your progress - Plan, Do, Check, Act
Six Principles:
Regardless of the challenge, all of most of these principles should be relevant and useful.
1.Think Scientifically - Use numbers, rates, proportions, and percentages to inform decisions and guide our evaluations, of what to do and
what works once we get things going.
2. Look for Leverage - Look for ways to intervene that will produce the most change for a given level of effort (or spending).
3. Be Systematic - Use some basic organizational principles, and tools like cost-benefit analysis, to track your thinking, research, and progress.
4. Adopt a Marketing Mindset - You are in the business of selling something, whether you know it or not. Learn to think about how and where to sell your ideas, programs, or projects to those who need them but may not be paying attention.
5. Hunt for Opportunities - You and your supporters will soon get tired of hearing about problems that need fixing. Look for ways to partner with other groups, provide new benefits that weren't part of the plan, or acquire new resources.
6. Think Design - All social innovations need to be “sold” to people, so all ideas need to be designed to fit the audience and the social environment.
Seven Steps:
The process involves seven steps, steps to lead you from problem identification to solution implementation. The steps don’t need to be followed in order in each case. If an existing program needs improvement, you may be able to start with the third step. If you have ideas, you can do step two and jump to step six. The steps below obviously need much more explanation to be useful. My blogs and my proposed book offer details. Here are the seven steps:
1. Explore your challenge - Ask questions about what you want to accomplish and why.
2. Analyze the situation and the social environment - Use your own experience, plus existing data.
3. Define what counts as a good idea - A "good idea" is only good if it fits the circumstances. Spell out the relevant criteria or standards.
4. Look for ideas to steal - Why invent something when you can simply borrow somebody else's idea? No matter what you want to accomplish, someone has probably done something similar, and described it on the Web.
5. Brainstorm - Generate new ideas using lateral thinking tricks. Learn a couple of techniques for generating new ideas, one for individual use and one for group brainstorming sessions.
6. Evaluate your ideas - Be systematic in testing your ideas and picking the best one.
7. Implement the winning idea and monitor your progress - Plan, Do, Check, Act
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